Health Updates 21 November 2011

A pregnant mother’s mental state may affect child’s development: “Development was best in babies with mothers who were either depression-free or had depression before and after giving birth. Development was slower in babies born to mothers who went from depressed before birth to non-depressed after birth or from non-depressed before birth to depressed after birth, the investigators found.” (USA Today)

Higher drinking age may protect women from harm: “Women in the US who were legally allowed to consume alcohol before age 21 had a higher risk for death by suicide or homicide, according to a quasi-experimental, population-based study. ‘We observed a significant minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) and sex interaction in the prediction of both suicide and homicide that corresponded to a 12% elevation in suicide risk and a 15% elevation in homicide risk for women exposed to an MLDA of less than 21′, wrote Richard Grucza, PhD, MPE, and colleagues in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Moreover, widespread implementation of an MLDA of 21 may have prevented more that 1,200 suicides and homicides yearly in the country…”. (Shalmali Pal, MedPage Today)

Fake doctor arrested for injecting women’s butt with cement and toxins, after evading police for over a year: “On Friday, Miami Gardens police finally caught up with the elusive ‘doctor’, a transgender woman whose own butt is the size of a truck tire. Investigators suspect she is part of an underground network of scam artists who have been offering ‘pumping parties’ and home buttocks augmentation across South Florida for years.” (Miami Herald)

Health care groups expect 2012 election to delay major changes to health care and are planning now for post-election debate: The health-care interests that stand to take another hit in 2013 want to begin planning now. Current efforts are informal and low-key. But several pivotal health-care leaders, most of who have been through previous national debates and cost-cutting campaigns together, say efforts to reduce spending too often transfer costs off the federal budget and onto individuals, insurers, doctors or hospitals.” (Washington Post)